I am new here, and though I am a keen gardener, I joined the forums because I need little help. I am an older student at Open University, and as a part of my course I am doing a project on improving - waterbutts. I made a survey of 10 simple questions, it is anonymous, there is no need to register, and it takes about 1-2 minutes to do- please can you fill it ?
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would also appreciate any advice, experience, etc you have about the subject.
This is an international forum, not all terms are in common use in all places or necessarily mean the same. What do you mean by a water butt? I assume it is some sort of water vessel for watering the garden. How big is it? Do you mean a purpose-built water tank or some vessel recycled from another purpose?
I see, sorry! I thought it was UK forum. Waterbutt is used to collect and store rainwater, often it is attached to downpipe, many local councils give them away for free in England, to encourage people to use rainwater to water their gardens, there are some with more attractive design, with hosepipe attachments, timers,etc
You didn't say how big they are but assuming something like 200 litres they are a waste of time except in very limited circumstances. I say this because:
1) That much water is only useful for watering a few pot plants or a tiny garden bed.
2) In even a modest rain event one is likely to have far more water than that come down each downpipe which then gives you problems disposing of the excess without it causing damage, which implies yet more plumbing.
Why would you waste money on pumps, timers etc for so little use? Your project is like putting lipstick on a pig.
they are pretty simple to use and install really, the overflow kit is pretty cheap and easy to install as well
there are no pumps or timers considered for my project
it would also be possible to connect several to each other, to store/use more water
loads of councils /water companies provide/install the waterbutts for free, or at a very little cost in order to encourage people using rain water to water their gardens - quite small usually- mostly people have turf, a few ornamental plants, some started to grow herbs, tomatoes and strawberries
the problem is, many people are simply to lazy to use this water, as using a hosepipe or sprinkler attached to mains is much easier
further, those waterbutts are really ugly plastic things - not suitable for the front of houses
considering that 7% of all energy produced is used to provide drinking water (worldwide) it does make sense to reduce its use where possible- you may think that saving few thousands of litres of water per home is not worthy, but every little helps, and it also makes people think and possibly some may look at the way they live, and try to change their lifestyle
my project is quite small, as it is some 20.000 words that has to cover the entire innovation to invention process- for example for the market analysis I have some 1500 words only ( and i need to explain and demonstrate course concepts)
I have an idea that I can not disclose at this stage, that is very simple, and could well work
I will need 5 people for user survey- those people would have to answer much more detailed questions, and they would get a better explanation of my idea, by the survey i posted, i need about 100 responses - and it is just to look at possibilities- rather than address my specific idea
your comments are appreciated and valued, thank you, and please-if you have the time, I would like to hear more from you
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